By TONY CHERBY
For the Sentinel
BUENA VISTA — For the second time in as many weeks, the Ocean City Senior Golf Tuesday Leaguers dodged a weather bomb. A 77% chance of thunderstorms July 28 morphed into a morning of “partly cloudy.” We made it through our ninth round of match play with nary a spritz. I’m reminded that we’ve only had two rainouts in three years, which is remarkable. Of course, for my superstitious compatriots, I just went and jinxed us? We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess. But drought conditions and golf courses do not a happy marriage make, so a good soaker would certainly be welcomed. Hard, patchy fairways are fine for “driving for show,” but the same conditions on fragile greens making “putting for dough” – well, not so much.
It any case, it sure did turn out to be partly cloudy for our points leader Ralph DeLanzo, who sported an undefeated, once tied record when the day began. His scheduled opponent had to bail, so he had to “play a Ghost;” aka, match cards with someone in the field who has about the same handicap. Ralph “plays to a 9,” as the Brits put it, and long story short, the Ghost won 3 – 1. Turned out, as bad luck would have it for Ralph, that name on the Ghost’s card was Roger Probert, who sports an 8 handicap. All RP did was fire a sparkling 82 that featured 10 pars and a pin win. But his most impressive stat was a great 39 on the more difficult inward 9, where five of our six toughest holes reside. A sub-40 “back there” is about as good as it gets for our gang. PS: While our “ghost protocol” isn’t ideal, when you end up with an odd number of players, it’s the best solution anyone in the golf universe come up with that I know.
I’ll still bet that DeLanzo wins the Most Points race come September. His 31 notches are 5 better than his nearest rival, Yours Truly. Dane Mayson follows with 23 points, then Chris Ramsay (20), and Dave Carter (19). I did gain on Ralph but only by 1 point after managing to scrape together a tie with Rick Schultz, our “Shot of the Day” winner. DeLanzo’s lead is going to be tough to beat, especially since he is so steady. And that’s coupled with the fact that we only have four matches to go. It’s hard to believe, but for the 35th time, the backstretch of another season of senior golf is just around the nearest dogleg. (I just can’t avoid those mixed metaphors.)
In other highlights, Lee Hollerbach had a fine outing, his best of the year. He bagged a birdie, and the Fewest Putts prize after just 28 snaps. That ties our lowest short-stick output for 2026. (Dave Carter’s 25 raps and taps won last year.) And for the second time in three weeks, Lou Salgado was closest to the pin twice. He leads with 4 pin wins, along with Ralph DeLanzo and Rick Schultz. Carter has 3. Affable Lou also shot a solid 85, another personal best since he came aboard our Ship of Fools earlier this year. That score also propelled him to a Low Net win. And Tom Gahr also had his best round of the 2026 campaign.
Rick Schultz came closest to the Promised Land on the par-3 8th, but Bill Gardner putted first and stole the show with a center-cut 20-something footer. Notably, Bill had already birdied No. 5, the other par-3 on the front. He went on to sweep his match for a Banner Day of his own!
You could argue, however, that Schultz had the last laugh. On No. 10, he produced our “Shot of the Day.” His difficult third shot to a hidden hole, a towering wedge – the only kind that will hold the green there – sailed over one of the cavernous bunkers that guard the front of the highly elevated, demonic carpet. It came to rest some 10 feet from the cup, and Rick sank his putt for a rare birdie on our second-toughest hole.
Greg Harlan got a birdie on 10 as well. It, too, was his second for the day, after one on No. 3. Greg also joined our gang after the season began, so he’s only logged six match play rounds. But he leads the birdie brigade by a wide margin, having caged 18 after only six rounds! Chris Ramsay has 7 birdies, and Mark Franks, Bill Gardner and Roger Probert have 6.
Finally, here’s a “highlight” that Tony “the Collector” Cornell was happy to recount over some post-round burgers and fries. He announced to all that he paced the league in smelling out sand traps this time around, and not for the first time. We’ll take his word for it, as this is a stat for which we have no documentation. But Rich Hawthorne, Tony’s opponent, carpool mate, foil, neighbor, fellow burned-pretzel aficionado, and firsthand witness did affirm TC’s assertion that he touched down in 15 sandy plots of South Jersey real estate. And then Sir Richard of Osprey hastened to add that this tally “doesn’t even count the times he ended up in the same trap after his first try at bailing out!”
Here are the results of all our matches: Probert 4, Harlan ; Ghost 3, DeLanzo 1; Hollerbach 4, Carter 0; Wright 4, Ramsay 0; Hawthorne 4, Cornell 0; Salgado 4, Mayson 0; Gardner 4, Chestnut 0; Cherby 2, Rick Schultz 2; Baird 4, England 0; Gahr 4, Greene 0; Curtis 2, Mackey 2.
WEEKLY WINNERS
Low Gross (82): Probert
Low Net (67): Salgado
Fewest Putts (28): Hollerbach
Birdies: Gardner (2), Harlan (2), Schultz, Hawthorne, Wright, Baird, Hollerbach
Most Pars (10): Probert
Most Bogies (11): Wright
Closest to the Pins:
No. 5 Salgado 6’9”
No. 8 Schultz 7’5”
No. 12 Probert 9’6”
No. 17 Salgado 11’7”